I have worked in the field in Arizona for about five years and have struggled with how we treat our mentally ill.

Our mental health system is underfunded, and the care staff are underpaid. It is a shame that some people are more concerned about money than they are about a human life. I look forward to reading more reports on this issue.

James "JP" Popoff; Phoenix

Your article on the mental health system resonated with me because I lost my mentally ill son, Sam, via suicide by drowning on May 1, 2011. A nurse practitioner refused a medication change because Sam admitted he had relapsed after more than three months of sobriety. He needed to remain sober for one month before a medication change. He was in multiple substance abuse programs, but he still fell through large gaps in our rural health system.

Sam did not tell us that he was in more pain than he could bear. He had told us at 18 that he would not live past 29. Sam was just 20 the day he walked into the river during a public event.

Ginny Miller; Dayville, Conn.

Thank you so much for writing about the status of the mentally ill in America today. It is a sad situation that we are treating people with illnesses in jails instead of in hospitals and treatment facilities.

I am a member of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Greater Orlando and a lucky person living with bipolar disorder. I am able to get outpatient treatment that keeps me out of the hospitals. I was a volunteer for a short time in a mental hospital and was appalled at the lack of treatment. It was mainly a holding facility to administer medication and a revolving door for many patients, some of them homeless.

Keep up your focus on this topic, and thank you again.

Gayle Schurig; Orlando

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The mental health system has been deteriorating for decades, and that won't change until the voters start becoming more concerned about it.

— Allan Vavroch

If the safety of Americans is the No. 1 priority for this country, why has the federal government cut funding for mental health research? We, as a society, need to re-evaluate our priorities when it comes to the safety of people who are suffering.

— Brian Reyes

Some of the stigma associated with mental illnesses comes from the most needy patients being left out on the streets where they may be publicly viewed and judged. Many people who are mentally ill are functional, productive members of society who simply need the help of medical professionals. Make that assistance accessible, and mental illness will start to lose its stigma.